Free and cheap things to do with kids this week

It's free to visit the Glazer Children's Museum this weekend and there will be a birthday party in the park. There's also Star Trek night at the Rays game, a day on the farm, the Imagination Movers pay a visit, a library book sale, a messy day of fun and more in this week's list of free and cheap things to do with your kids.

It’s a Glazer Museum Birthday Bash on Sunday, as the children’s museum celebrates its second birthday with a free party in Curtis Hixon Park. Another gift: Free admission to the museum Saturday and Sunday. The party Sunday includes pony rides, birthday cake, live music, a petting zoo, face painting, balloon twisting, arts and crafts and a visit from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Street Team. The party is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Curtis Hixon Park, 600 N Ashley Drive, Tampa. If you can’t make it, there’s $5 admission to the museum until Sept. 30.

Disney’s Emmy Award-winning Imagination Movers make a stop in Clearwater on Saturday as part of their Rock-O-Matic Tour. This rock band for kids produces smart, high-energy pop that parents love as well, since they sound more like the Beastie Boys or Red Hot Chili Peppers than Mr. Rogers. The four guys in the band, who hail from New Orleans and some of whom lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina, have a knack for interacting with the children in the audience and bringing the adults in with grownup songs by U2 and other favorites. Tickets are 25-$35 at Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 N McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. (727) 791-7400. rutheckerdhall.com. Shows are 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Hernando Beach will be awash in music starting at noon Saturday for Bluesapalooza. The lineup is headlined by Josh Lamkin and Automatic Heat with Lalani Rothrock at 5 p.m. and Southern Hospitality at 7 p.m. There will be a variety of food and other vendors on hand. Admission is $5 for adults and teens, $1 for ages 5-12, 4 and younger free at Linda Pedersen Park at Jenkins Creek, 6300 Shoal Line Blvd., Hernando Beach.

Forget the Final Frontier. If this Rays team doesn’t start winning, it’ll be stuck in the Neutral Zone until spring. If that’s not too nerdy for you, beam yourself to the Trop tonight (Thursday) for Star Trek Night where the Rays face the Klingons (well, Boston Red Sox actually). Star Fleet officers will be patrolling the press level seats — phasers set on “fun” — to give fans picture opportunities. But you can get into the spirit wherever your seats are by dressing in your finest Trek garb. (No Tribbles please; they’re just trouble.) The game is at 7:10 tonight at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

For hipsters, PBR stands for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. For the cowboy-inclined, that’s Professional Bull Riders, son, and don’t you forget it! And when the PBR comes to the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Friday and Saturday, it’ll take a little more than quoting lines from 1980’s Urban Cowboy — “All cowboys ain’t dumb. Some of ’em got smarts real good!” — if you want to follow the action. Here are three tips we found on the organization’s official website, pbr.com: 1. A QUALIFIED RIDE IS 8 SECONDS: You learned that in Luke Perry’s 1994 movie titled, ahem, 8 Seconds. The clock starts when the bull’s shoulder or flank breaks the plane of the gate and stops when the rider’s hand comes out of the rope, the rider touches the ground or the rider’s free arm touches the bull. 2. PARTNERS IN POINTS: Four judges rate each rider — assuming he stays on — and each bull. Yes, even a riderless bull is graded for skills including its kick in the back, its spin and its charisma and good looks. (We’re still double-checking that last category.) 3. VEGAS, BABY: The Tampa PBR event — the DeWalt Guaranteed Tough Invitational — is just one stop during the association’s regular season; the World Finals are in Las Vegas Oct. 24-28. That’ll be a belly-busting buffet of beer, bravado and yeah, even a little Pabst Blue Ribbon beer for Sin City. The riding is 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa. $10 to $150. (813) 301-2500. Plus, nearly 35 professional bull riders will weigh-in for the competition at 11:30 a.m. today, with an autograph and meet-and-greet session at 6 p.m. at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 5223 N Orient Road, Tampa. Free. (813) 627-7625.

When we saw that Largo’s recreation department had come up with a Mother-Son Messy Madness night our first thought was, “That’s every night in our house.” But this sounds ideal, since we won’t be the one cleaning up the mess. This is the last hurrah for the old Highland recreation center, and the recreation folks tell us, “We’ve been given permission to trash the place.” They’ll have dinner, dessert and a special gift in this night of fun where moms and sons play lots of interactive messy games. They plan to have fun with shaving cream, whipped cream, Cheetos, loaded balloon tosses, raw egg spoon races, you get the idea. It’s Sept. 29, but you have to register by Friday. The price is $20 per pair and $8 for each additional son at the Highland Recreation Complex and Family Aquatic Center, 400 Highland Ave. NE, Largo. Call (727) 518-3016.

Gaby Rodriguez drew national headlines after pretending to be pregnant for a senior class project to explore stereotypes and the treatment of pregnant teens. The young woman, whose story became a Lifetime movie, has written a memoir of her experience called The Pregnancy Project. Only her mother, boyfriend and school principal were in on the experiment and they watched as she suffered painful slights. On Friday, Rodriguez will be at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor City campus at 9 a.m. to discuss and sign her book. Because space is limited, reservations are requested by the talk’s sponsor, Alpha House, at (813) 253-2638. The campus is at 2112 N 15th St., Tampa. Free. 2Glazer Museum Birthday Bash: The children’s museum celebrates its second birthday with a free party in Curtis Hixon Park and free admission to the museum this weekend. The party Sunday includes pony rides, birthday cake, live music, a petting zoo, face painting, balloon twisting, arts and crafts and a visit from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Street Team. Free entry to the museum both Saturday and Sunday. The party Sunday is in Curtis Hixon Park, 600 N Ashley Drive, Tampa, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you can’t make it to the party, there’s a special $5 admission to the museum until Sept. 30.

For Karma: The Shops at Franklin try the popup retail craze today as Tampa Bay Fashion Week winds down. With clothes and accessories, a popup store will be open all weekend after kicking off tonight with a grand opening party ($35) from 6 to 9 p.m. The store will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Vault, 611 N Franklin St., Tampa.

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